Artifacting on splitscreen HDTV

[cw89]

Hi,

I recently dragged my pc into the living room to play some splitscreen and try out the new Steam big-picture mode. Got my pc set up with an HDMI cable and started up Dirt 3. Single player mode worked great. Started up splitscreen and within a couple of minutes I started seeing artifacting and then the game crashed. Tried this a few more times and I could never get through a full race. The artifacting wouldn't happen while the game was running - it was simultaneous. The screen would freeze and artifact at the same time. I would have to shutdown - sometimes ctr-alt-del would work.

I also tried portal 2 with splitscreen. This working for a little while longer, but I eventually got artifacting/freezing with that as well. I checked the GPU temp as soon as I ctr-alt-del out of the game...each time it was reading around 40-50° C - which is very reasonable. I'm running a 1920x1080 res on the HDTV 42". On my normal 23" LCD monitor (also 1902x1080), I can run most games at high settings just fine. It's the splitscreen that's killing it.

Graphics card seems fine. The only thing I can think of is it might be the PSU? Any ideas?

Thanks,


win7
intel core 2 quad q660 - 2.4ghz
8gb ram
nvidia gtx 570
BFG 500 watt psu

antec 900 gaming case

 

[jnkweaver]

Do you ever split screen on the 23"? I would guess it is a driver issue.

 

[cw89]

Do you ever split screen on the 23"? I would guess it is a driver issue.

that's what i had initially thought so i updated to the latest certified drivers. didn't fix it. never really tried splitscreen on the 23" but i'm guessing it would be the same result because its the same res. i could try though.

 

[jnkweaver]

that's what i had initially thought so i updated to the latest certified drivers. didn't fix it. never really tried splitscreen on the 23" but i'm guessing it would be the same result because its the same res. i could try though.

It would be an interesting experiment to see if you have the same issues.

 

[cw89]

So I tried the 23" and the same thing happened. Artifacts and freezing. Out of curiosity, I decided to try dirt 3 just in single player mode without the splitscreen. After about 30 min, I ran into problems. Artifacts, but not quite as bad as on the splitscreen mode. Then the game would crash.

This may just be a dirt 3 thing, but it's a newer game and I don't usually put that much of a load on my system. I'm still thinking that the PSU may be at fault here. Any other ideas?

 

[siddharthmukul007]

under powered gpu might also cause problems....try out a psu with higher power ratings to see if that works....also watch out for cpu temps.

 

[cw89]

Yep, I already ordered a new PSU. CPU temps were also something I was worried about so I got a corsair h50 as well. Hopefully this will do the trick. Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[siddharthmukul007]

good choice...all the best